(Radha offering flowers to Krishna—click to enlarge)
Guest: What does Kṛṣṇa say about truth?
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa is truth. Without Kṛṣṇa, everything is untruth. Truth is one. Just like zero is zero. And it is added with one, then it is ten. It is truth. So zero is zero always. Hundred million times zero adds, it is zero. But when there is one, immediately value increases. So without Kṛṣṇa, all this material advancement, they are all zeros. But if you bring Kṛṣṇa, then it..., that increases value—ten, hundred, thousand, tens of thousands, like that, million, billions. Because the one is there. So bring Kṛṣṇa, and then everything will be value. Otherwise, all zero. You may be proud of so-called material advancement. It is zero, because it will not save you, because tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), you have to change your body. So you have earned so much millions and billions of money. That's all right. But you'll have to go empty-handed. The money will remain here. You cannot take that money within the tomb. That is not possible. Then it is zero.
You are going empty-handed. You came empty-handed and going empty-handed. You came with zero, and you are going with zero. So whatever you have earned, that is zero. But if you have attempted to serve Kṛṣṇa with all these zeros, then you have taken some value. Then Kṛṣṇa will see: "Oh, he has done so much for Me. Let him come here." Otherwise zero. What is the value of your skyscraper building and billions of dollars in the bank? You cannot take it with you. And this is called māyā. You cannot take it with you; still, you are struggling hard day and night. This is called māyā.
(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, New Orleans, July 31, 1975)
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